The Right Way and The Wrong Way of External Link Building

If you desire to ignite your social media with passion and turn it into a profit, you must set the basics in order. One basic is content optimization and SEO. Believe it or not, all SEO’s were newbies at one time or another; plus there is a always more room to learn for everybody.

The last time we saw how links help search engines love your website and reward you with higher ranking. This week, we’ll build on our discussion of link-building activity.

Building quality links back to your website not only improves your overall popularity in the eyes of the search engines, but also improves your search engine visibility. Perhaps you’re questioning, as most people do: How do I get links pointing back to my site when I have no control over other websites out there?

The good news is that because links come in different forms, they can be generated from different tactics. There are some easy ways to build links. One that you’ll want to implement first is having an online presence in web directories.

Register on Relevant Web Directories

A common way of generating links is by registering your website on different web directories. But keep in mind that you want to be extremely selective about the directories in which your business information and links appear.

I would recommend, for instance, the Yahoo directory as a great place to start. If your business or ministry is local, submit your information to local business directories.

Next, if there are industry-specific directories and listing services that are trusted and unique to your market, register on those directories, too.

Don’t put yourself on listings and directories that exist solely to generate links. There are many spam directories on the Internet and very few are actually trustworthy.

A good guideline to follow is to determine whether or not the directory conducts some form of editorial process that reviews each link and accepts only relevant and trusted websites themselves. If a directory is willing to publish any link without review, it’s probably not a reliable directory. Another easy way to get links to your site is to use social media platforms to direct readers back to your content.

Share Content on Social Media

It is crucial to gain links from social media sharing. People are social beings and are eager to share interesting content on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn.

Social media links signal the search engines to what content people actually like and what real people are actually interested in. So use those sharing buttons on content pages and use your own social influence on the networks you participate in to promote links to your content so it is passed around. Leveraging your social connections to alert readers that you have posted new constant is an effective way to build links. But don’t stop there.

Reach Out to Other Relevant and Trustworthy Sites

Another way of building links is to attract other websites to link to your content. The key factor here is that your content must attract notice and appreciation – in other words it must be high quality content. Sometimes great content naturally invites great links as a result of people discovering and sharing it. But more frequently, you will need to do a little outreach to motivate people to discover your content.

Look for other websites that have the same audience as you. For example, if you have a social media website, seek out some of the top-notch people who post content that is relevant to yours, such as, Kim Garst, Jeff Bullas or Pam Moore. Reaching out to them and demonstrating that you have content that their readers might find useful could result in a link back from them – a very relevant and trustworthy link. Building links can be time-consuming and difficult. There will always be temptations to take shortcuts. But you know better than to do that, right?

Stay Safe

There are also wrong ways to build links. If you question whether you are cheating the system, don’t do it. Being caught is inevitable and real consequences follow. It could mean the end of your online business.

Because the Internet is constantly changing and evolving, the search engines are too. As quickly as a link scam can be devised, the search engines find a way to detect it.

Don’t fall prey to companies that sell links. Don’t trade links with strangers who have no relevance to your business or content. If it’s too easy, it will probably get you in trouble.

And don’t put yourself on listings and directories that exist solely to get you more links. You will not find quality links from these sources. As with most things, common sense will keep you out of trouble.

To Sum It Up

Although much about the Internet has changed, the importance of links has remained intact: quality and insightful content will always attract readers who will in turn want to pass along the valuable information you’ve provided. As long as your link building tactics keep these key elements in mind, you will continue to have the opportunity to build new quality links.

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